Alexis Troubetzkoy on Hans: Do we now have a common border with the EU?

A division of Hans Island, with half going to Canada and half to Denmark, raises the intriguing possibility that Canada would end up sharing a common border with the European Community, just as Russia does. Will Russia someday join the European Union? Surely we would be eligible. And then, the Euro perhaps?

In the way of background, what follows is an excerpt from my 2011 book, Arctic Obsession: the Lure of the Far North (Dundurn Press, 2011).

History records scores of territorial or jurisdictional disputes, and most wars are rooted in such quarrels. In today’s world, over 200 territorial disputes are ongoing — Golan Heights, Falkland Islands, Kashmir and Gibraltar, for example. (Perhaps the two most comical ones are Rockall, an extinct volcanic protrusion of 8,500 square feet, which juts out of the North Atlantic, claimed by four nations — United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Iceland. The other is a strip of roadway called Passetto di Borgo, 10 feet by 200, claimed by Vatican City and Italy).

The Arctic does not escape territorial disputes. Denmark and Canada, for example, both lay claim to the tiny barren Hans Island situated between Greenland and Ellismere Island.

In 1994, Denmark’s minister for Greenland planted his nation’s flag, and in a lighthearted move he left behind a bottle of cognac with the note, “Welcome to the Danish island.” A decade later, Denmark followed up more seriously on the minister’s visit by dispatching a group of warships on maneuvers around the island. The Canadian press had a field day with the news, offering such tongue-in-cheek headlines as “Canada Being Invaded,” and “Danes Massing Troops on Canadian Territory.”

Later that same year, the situation intensified when over 180 Canadian troops took over Hans Island and held military exercises, complete with aircraft, helicopters and a frigate. And when then-Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham visited the island in 2005, an immediate objection was raised by the Danish foreign ministry: “We consider Hans Island to be a part of Danish territory and will therefore hand over complaint about the Canadian minister’s unannounced visit.”

Long-standing friends as the two countries are, the dispute will no doubt find peaceful resolution, although with unconfirmed reports of nearby oil reserves, the negotiations are unlikely to be lightly held over that Danish bottle of cognac.